Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Bought by Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations lifted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 5.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,818 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,627 shares during the quarter. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations' holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CRM. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 30,456.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,020,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,147 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,744.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $488,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,550 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,988,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683,233 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.40, for a total transaction of $558,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,958,834,236.40. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 46,479 shares of company stock worth $12,457,591 in the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $404.00 price objective (up previously from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $240.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.04 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's 50-day moving average is $263.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.10. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 25.98%.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.

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